Separated By Common Language
by Fifi McFu
Summary: Sasuke is starting an internship at a medical company, all alone in a new country.  His mentor seems to hate him, but is there more to Naruto than it seems? Naruto x Sasuke, yaoi
1. Prologue

_So, at long last, the first chapter of my new multi-chapter! I know I still need to write the final part of Distract Me, but I've lost my muse with that lately and this idea is fresh and exciting (hopefully), so yeah. I don't know how long this is gonna be yet, but it should be my next big project._

_Pairing is Naruto x Sasuke, but with regards to whether it's NaruSasu or SasuNaru, I don't know yet. So please don't ask._

_I hope you enjoy it!_

* * *

The office door flung open and smacked into the wall, dislodging several medical charts from their places as Naruto Uzumaki stormed into the slightly overheated room.

"Fuckin' traffic!" he spat, throwing his briefcase on his chair and haphazardly draping his blazer on a hook behind the door. His face was red and his hair was all over the place, white shirt buttoned incorrectly and his tie missing in action.

Neji didn't even raise an eyebrow, continuing to click calmly through the build-up of emails he had to read whilst Naruto blustered around the office.

"Of all the days to be late! Boss is gonna kill me... _again!"_

"Jiraiya isn't here yet either, actually," Neji said absently, as though he were commenting on the colour of Naruto's socks. This caused Naruto to instantly pause.

"He's not?" The blond's voice was hopeful but suspicious.

"No. He rang Kurenai about five minutes ago and said he's going to be late. I'm assuming it's the snow." Reading his final email, Neji minimized the window on his screen and reclined in his chair, adjusting his tie.

"That fucking snow," Naruto growled, shoving his briefcase off his chair and flopping down in it, running a tanned hand through his hair in agitation. "I was _so_ not prepared for it. And of course everyone in this town drives like an eighty year old when it snows."

He was distracted from his ramblings when Neji threw something in his face. Naruto blinked in surprise as the necktie fell in his lap.

"Shut up and make yourself presentable. You have a conference room full of Korean clients waiting for you to give your presentation. And the new intern that's going to be sharing this office is arriving today, don't forget."

Naruto resisted the urge to headbutt his desk, choosing instead to re-button his shirt and knot the tie at his throat. "Oh yeah, Sakura mentioned that last week. Just what I need, a kid running about the place."

"The 'kid' as you call him is only three years younger than you," Neji informed him sternly as Naruto began to collect his notes together for his presentation. "And he's going to be extremely useful. You know he's trilingual, right?"

"So?" Naruto scowled, not really listening. "Hey, do you have the ACCIS implant model?"

Neji passed it over, rolling his eyes. "So it means we can finally get all the surgical techniques translated into German and Spanish? You should care about this as the junior product manager."

"Whatever, I don't have time to care about interns right now." Gathering his notes and models up in his arms, Naruto swept out of the office towards the conference room, leaving Neji rubbing his forehead in frustration.

"_How_ he came to be a product manager is beyond me."

* * *

Checking the map print-out in his half-frozen hands, Sasuke made a left at the Mercedes garage, heading into the industrial estate. Snow crunched underneath his heavy duty boots and his breath fanned out visibly in front of him. Shivering, he tugged his beanie hat further down over his ears, black bangs flattened to either side of his pale face.

_First thing I'm doing this weekend is buying a bicycle_, he thought irately as he passed by various car garages on his way up the hill. It wasn't even eight in the morning yet, but the sky was a warm red colour that made the snow look just that little bit more inviting.

When he had found and moved into his apartment, he hadn't realised that it was in fact a thirty minute walk from where he was soon to be working. While this wouldn't normally be a problem, the prospect of wading through an assault course of snow drifts and black ice early every morning did not appeal to him in the slightest. He stared in envy as a cyclist passed him on the cleared road.

Turning his map over to re-read his notes on the other side for the millionth time, he tried to calm the fluttering in his chest. He was in a new country and had only been there for three days, and was starting his first day at a proper job without any involvement with his father's business whatsoever. He felt isolated, but at the same time free in an almost intimidating way.

He didn't understand quite why he was so nervous about his first day though. He hadn't been this anxious during the video conference interview, nor had starting afresh in a new place ever really bothered him before. True, he was in the United States rather than Britain this time, but honestly, he felt he was being irrationally stupid.

_Stop being such a fucking pussy, it's just a job. Nothing new there._ Regardless of this mantra that was more akin to his father's attitude than he realised, Sasuke's stomach still did a double-flip when the large white building with the company logo on the side came into view. Checking the road several times (he was still adjusting to cars driving on the right-hand side), he crossed over and made his way through the already full car park, assuming it would be best to go for the entrance marked "Visitors".

Pressing the buzzer at the door, he pulled his beanie off and tried to make his hair look presentable in the reflection of the glass door. He could see people rushing about inside through what looked to be a welcoming foyer beyond the glass.

The intercom crackled into life and a female voice played over it. "Yes?"

Sasuke blinked at the snappy tone of the woman. "Um... I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I'm the new intern here... I'm supposed to be meeting with Sakura Haruno?"

There was a brief moment of silence and the intercom cut out, the door buzzing loudly as it unlocked. A little perturbed by the brashness of it all, Sasuke opened the door and stepped inside, immediately getting blasted with hot air.

Assuming it would be best to wait in the foyer what with all the people rushing about, he began to divest himself of his winter outdoor clothes, relieved to be out of the stuffy overcoat and scarf. He was just folding them neatly over his arm when he was approached not by a woman but by a tall man looking to be in his late twenties. He had dark skin and hair, and much to Sasuke's alarm, he was smoking a cigarette indoors.

"Can I help you kid?" he asked, not bothering to remove the smoke from his mouth when he spoke.

_Kid?_ "Uh, I'm supposed to be meeting Sakura Haruno? I'm the new intern."

"Ah, the linguist!" Now the cigarette was removed and held between two fingers. "We've been looking forward to meeting you. Name's Asuma, I'm going to be your department manager. C'mon, I'll take you to Sakura's office."

"Um, thank you," Sasuke said quietly, cringing a little when Asuma slung an arm around his shoulders and led him out of the foyer and into a large printing atrium. Women in suits were rushing about on their stilettos heels all over the place with large stacks of freshly printed papers. "Can I just ask, exactly which department will I be working for sir?"

Asuma chuckled, taking a long drag of his cigarette as he steered Sasuke through the hustle and bustle. "Please, call me Asuma. Well, your official title is 'Marketing Intern', but I'm more on the product management side of things. We've got a lot of work lined up for you, Sasuke." He pushed Sasuke before him now, towards a half-open door in the corner of the atrium.

"Here's her office. You go first."

"Um, okay." Readjusting his grip on his coat and scarf, Sasuke knocked tentatively and then pushed the door the rest of the way open. He was met with the sight of two desks pushed together, a woman working at a computer on either side. The woman on the left's face was covered by her thick black fringe, her hair cascading down her back to almost her waist.

The woman on the right... had pink hair.

_They certainly have a strange attitude to professionalism, _Sasuke mused as he cleared his throat, Asuma walking in behind him. The pink-haired girl (who looked to be about Sasuke's age) lifted her head from her work, her prettiness marred by the scowl on her face.

"Who are you?"

Sasuke had to bite down on his tongue at her tone. This was the same woman who had spoken to him over the intercom, he was quite sure. Which was infuriating, because if _she_ was Sakura Haruno, then she blatantly knew who he was because she had just buzzed him in.

Asuma laid a hand on Sasuke's shoulder, and yet again the Brit inside him cringed at the invasion of his personal space. "Sakura, this is Sasuke. The new linguist."

Her green eyes remained fixed on Sasuke for a few long, painful seconds, and then she looked away as she began to rifle through papers. "Ah, yes. I'm supposed to give you a tour and then introduce you to your colleagues." She stood up and brushed down her sensible grey skirt, a large contrast to her outrageous hair colour, before picking up her papers with one arm and stepping out from behind her desk. "Hinata, if the Tokyo branch calls, take a message for me please."

The other woman nodded silently, not looking away from her screen. Sakura stepped forward, one creamy delicate hand extended towards Sasuke.

"Sakura Haruno, Export."

Sasuke shook her hand firmly, determined not to let her rude attitude get the better of him. "Sasuke Uchiha. I look forward to working with you."

"Well, I trust I can leave Sasuke in your capable hands, Sakura?" Asuma asked, a broad smile on his face as if he had just match-made the two.

Sakura looked at him sternly. "You know the Korean conference started ten minutes ago, Mr Sarutobi?"

Asuma's eyes widened to almost comic proportions. "Shit! I left Uzumaki on his own!" He stubbed his cigarette out in an ashtray on the desk and rushed out of the office, Sasuke staring after him with growing doubt as to the organisation of this company.

Sakura pinched the bridge of her nose for a few seconds before straightening up and taking on a more professional air. "Right, guess I better show you around then."

* * *

"... and with your co-operation and technological data, we can work together to build a new and improved tumour system for the hip and knee," Naruto finished, feeling the eyes of thirty Korean businessmen on him as his presentation came to an end. The room erupted into polite applause and he took a short bow before handing the reins over to Asuma, who had finally showed up to do the money talk.

Stepping out of the room, he wiped his forehead before heading to bathroom to clean up. The lights in that room were far too hot. He relieved himself quickly before washing his hands with the disinfectant soap that they were required by law to use, seeing as they were a medical company. Then he splashed some cold water on his face and took a look at himself in the mirror.

He had never looked so tired. He was only twenty-four years old and yet he felt like he had lived twice as long as that. His bright blue eyes were overshadowed by the bags beneath them and his hair, while still its luminous yellow that attracted so much attention, didn't seem to have the life it once had to it. It hung in well-tamed layers around his face, rather than the unruly spikes that used to defy gravity.

"I need a vacation," he sighed, turning the tap off and drying off his hands and face. Leaving the bathroom, he headed down the corridor to the staffroom with the intention of getting a cup of coffee.

"Hey Ten-Ten," he said in greeting to the brunette girl who was currently storing some food in the staff fridge. "How's your end of the building going?"

"Hi Naruto," she replied, looking a little worn out herself. "Eh, it's okay. One of our computers has got a Trojan on it apparently, so the designs for the new humeral implant are coming along slowly I'm afraid."

Naruto made a sympathetic noise and grabbed a coffee mug from the cupboard, moving over to the machine and pressing the button for a double espresso. He needed a major boost, it was only eleven thirty and he already felt like going back to bed.

"Hope that gets fixed soon," he said, and Ten-Ten thanked him before exiting the room, leaving him alone. Sighing as he waited for the machine to make his coffee, Naruto wandered over to the French windows and stared bleakly at the snow covering the small smoking area just outside. He hated snow, but unfortunately in Alaska you got a lot of it. Being a Florida boy though, he pined for the sunshine.

_Maybe I should take a week off once this Korean deal is sealed, go down South and pay the folks a visit,_ he mused, chewing on his lip and resting his forearm against the glass at eye level. The glass was cool to the touch, a refreshing sensation after being stuck in a stuffy conference room for two hours.

The coffee machine clicked, signalling that his beverage was ready, and he sighed before pushing himself away from the glass. "Back to the grindstone," he murmured, wandering back over and picking up his mug before making his way back to the office.

Neji was right where Naruto had left him, sat in his chair with his fingers racing over the keyboard, pale eyes fixed on his computer screen. Naruto didn't bother to greet him as he set his coffee down on the place mat next to his monitor before sinking into his chair and opening his emails.

"New York called. Twice," Neji said, nodding at Naruto's cordless phone that was sat on the desk. "They want to know when the Spanish version of the ACCIS technique will be available."

Naruto glared at him. "You know as well as I do that the new intern has to actually _translate _that technique before it can become available. Did you tell them that?"

"I tried, but because I'm not you, they didn't believe me," Neji said with a shrug.

"Typical." Naruto reached for his phone and was in the processing of dialling the New York office when a knock sounded at their office door.

"Come in," Neji called smoothly, and the door opened to reveal Sakura and a boy who looked to be in his early twenties. Naruto glanced over him, taking in the pitch black hair and pale skin, noting that the boy was quite good-looking for a British kid, before turning his gaze to the female.

"Dear Sakura," he chimed in a falsely pleasant voice, "how may we be of service today?"

Sakura smiled stiffly and stepped into the room, the boy following her after a moment's pause. "This is Sasuke, the new intern. He'll be working with you from now on so treat him well." She turned to Sasuke, who had his coat slung over his arm and looked about ready to just throw it in the bin. "Sasuke, you can hang your coat up in the closet in the atrium." She pointed over her shoulder back into the bustling atrium, and Sasuke nodded without a word before going to do as she bid.

Once he was out of earshot, a giddy smile spread over Sakura's face. "Jesus, he's _gorgeous!_"

"He's also jailbait," Naruto muttered, although he did take a quick glance at Sasuke's retreating ass before turning back to Sakura.

"He is not! He turned twenty one in July!" she protested, leaning against the doorframe with a blush spreading over her face.

"Oh, so you already found out his birthday then?" Neji laughed. Naruto snorted at the way Sakura's face went from light pink to London-bus red.

"Stalker," he chimed right before Sasuke walked back into the room. Immediately, Sakura straightened up, schooling her face back into a mask of haughty indifference.

"I'll leave you with your new colleagues then, Sasuke. If you have any problems or need to ask about the town at all, I'll be happy to help. I'm just across the hall."

Sasuke nodded, looking a little stiff. "Right. Thanks."

Sakura bid a good day to Naruto and Neji and then left the room, her heels clacking on the varnished flooring as she made her way back to her own office. Neji got to his feet and walked over to Sasuke, shaking his hand.

"Neji Hyuuga. I work with export. Nice to meet you." He smiled warmly at Sasuke, who returned the smile with less enthusiasm.

"Nice to meet you too. I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I look forward to working with you."

Neji looked at Naruto pointedly, but the blond was already on the phone to the New York office. Naruto waved at Sasuke absently, clearly indifferent to his presence. "Naruto Uzumaki. Product management. I'm your boss."

Sasuke frowned. "I thought Asuma was my boss?"

Neji chuckled. "He is. Naruto likes to think he's your boss because he's the one who's going to be giving you all your assignments, but in reality he's just your mentor. Asuma is his boss, and therefore your boss."

"Speaking of bosses," Naruto muttered, staring out of the window at the snow covered car park, "Jiraiya just arrived." A large black Mercedes was pulling up in the space right next to the visitor's entrance.

"Oh good, then we can introduce him to Sasuke straight away," Neji said before turning back to the new intern, who was looking slightly confused. "Jiraiya is the owner and chairman of the entire company. The boss of the bosses as one might say. Anyway, we'll get you set up on your computer and then take you to meet him."

"I'll do it once I've finished with New York," Naruto muttered, apparently waiting to be connected because he was holding the phone to his ear but not having a conversation with anybody on the other end. "I have to report on my presentation anyway." He didn't look too pleased, though whether this was at the prospect of talking to Sasuke or delivering his report, Sasuke had no idea.

Neji helped him set up his computer and showed him how the company databases and public sharing folders worked whilst Naruto had a heated argument with somebody in New York on the phone. The computer system was all fairly basic, nothing Sasuke hadn't seen before, which Neji was pleased with.

"So, how are you enjoying your time in the States so far?" he asked once he was sure Sasuke could handle the computer by himself.

"It's okay," Sasuke replied, not really having much more to say on the subject. "My apartment is nice."

He jumped as Naruto screamed down the phone, "BECAUSE I NEED TO GET THIS BRAT TO TRANSLATE THE FUCKING THING FIRST, GAARA!" He looked positively livid and was stabbing his pen repeatedly into his notebook as an outlet for his rage.

"Don't mind him," Neji said calmly, "He can't handle the stress of this job."

Naruto sent a glare their way, and Sasuke noticed just how tired the man looked, affirming Neji's statement. "I need a fucking vacation, okay?" Naruto spat before returning to his shouting match with the telephone.

"Is... he always this cranky?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow at the blond who he was supposedly going to be working with the most.

"To give him credit, today is just a bad day," Neji said a lot more sympathetically. "He was late so that put him in a bad mood."

_Just as long as he's not like this for the next year,_ Sasuke thought bitterly, before opening his first email and getting to work.

* * *

**TBC**


	2. Chapter 1

_-falls over- Here it is... Sorry for the wait, y'all. I'm sorry that this chapter is also kind of mundane and everyday-ish... The good stuff is coming, I swear _

* * *

Sasuke was slowly growing to despise his alarm clock. Screaming a muffled howl of annoyance into his pillow, he reached blindly for his bedside table and grabbed his mobile phone which was currently blasting out angry Metallica music in attempts to rouse him from the dead. After fumbling around with it whilst his face was still in the pillow, he managed to locate the off button and blessed silence stole over his bedroom again.

Slamming the device back down on the nightstand, Sasuke planted his hands on the mattress to either side of his pillow and pushed his torso up off the bed, his spine creaking in protest. No matter how many times he went through this process (which was every morning from Monday to Friday, every week), he still despised it with all his being.

Sasuke was definitely _not_ a morning person.

Shuffling out of the enticing warmth of his bed, he pulled the blind up on his window and glanced out at the car park to his apartment complex. Snow coated the sleeping cars thickly, the whiteness of the outside world almost blinding despite the fact that it was five in the morning and the sun wasn't due to rise for at least another three hours. This weather didn't really shock Sasuke though. He'd seen nothing _but_ snow since he moved to this goddamn town.

He ran his hand through his hair, feeling the gel from the day before still clumping the strands at the back together, and immediately started to get his work clothes together before taking them with him into his bathroom and placing them neatly on the lid of the toilet. He turned the shower on, the water hissing as steam quickly filled the room, and then he stepped into the stall and groaned as deliciously hot water pummelled his body.

This was probably the best part of his day, the hot shower. Because honestly, Sasuke didn't like his internship at all. He'd been in Alaska for a month now, working eight till five every day, and it was safe to say that his job was ridiculously dull. He was already sick of the sight of the MUTARS tumour system, and he'd only translated about ten percent of the surgical techniques that existed for all the fucking implants within that system.

_Surely most foreign surgeons nowadays speak English?_ He wondered irately as he lathered shampoo up in his hair, massaging his scalp as he did so. _And isn't it slightly fucking worrying that they need instructions on how to use the fucking implants after all the training and school they've been through?_

It wasn't just the translations that made work bad, though. Sasuke had been put in an office with quite possibly the most childish adult he'd ever met in his life. He had thought that maybe Naruto was just having a bad day on that initial day when they had met, but a month later the older man was still and cranky and whiny and angry as ever. That man _really_ didn't know how to deal with stress.

He supposed that the rest of his co-workers were okay though. Neji had basically taken Sasuke under his wing and made a point of chatting to Sasuke as they worked, and often dragged the intern out to lunch with other co-workers (who for some reason were all female). Sasuke had also had the 'pleasure' of having lunch with the director of the company, Jiraiya Sannin, and had politely turned down all further offers after Jiraiya had done nothing but accost him for facts about England and the women that lived there.

Aside from Neji, Sasuke didn't really consider any of his co-workers as his friends, however. The main reason for this was the rather disturbing way all of the women seemed to fawn over him and ask him to say random words in his "adorable accent". It disturbed him because they _all_ did it. Even Neji's virtually mute cousin Hinata who worked with Sakura in Export had asked him to say the word "tomato" after she had seen him cutting one up the other day.

Sighing and rinsing the shampoo out of his hair, replacing it with conditioner, Sasuke began to mentally prepare himself for his day. Although he was fluent in two other languages aside from English, translating all day long always gave him a headache and basically exhausted him. He returned home every night practically begging to get into bed. So far, he'd turned down every single invite from his co-workers to go out drinking.

It wasn't just that he was tired, or that he didn't consider himself that well acquainted with his co-workers. Sasuke couldn't hold his drink to save his life, and there was no way he was letting anybody find out that little secret.

_Especially_ not Naruto. Not only was the man the crankiest, bitchiest colleague in the world, he had a penchant for riling Sasuke up. He knew exactly how to push Sasuke's buttons and piss him off, and it was only pure willpower that had stopped Sasuke from getting into an argument with him. Naruto was his superior after all, and could quite easily have him out of a job if he so wanted.

Eventually, Sasuke could find no more excuses to stay in the shower and he turned off the water, stepping out and drying himself quickly before the cold hit him. He pulled on his work clothes, a pair of smart black trousers and a polo shirt with the company logo on the chest, and then blow-dried his hair and styled it. Glancing at the time as he walked back into his bedroom, he decided he had enough time to check his emails before he left and turned his laptop on.

There was one email from his brother which he ignored for the moment, because he knew it would probably just piss him off and leave him in a bad mood for the rest of the day. He checked his Facebook and answered the few messages that friends from England had posted on his wall asking how he was enjoying Alaska and if he was coming home for Christmas and such.

Christmas couldn't come quickly enough in his opinion, but it was only October.

After procrastinating online for ten minutes, Sasuke turned the laptop off and pulled on his coat, scarf and gloves. Finally, he picked up his briefcase, checked he had his phone, keys and wallet, and exited the apartment for the day.

The bite of the wind was nearly painful on his sensitive skin as he emerged into the white darkness of the street. Snow crunched under his feet as he set off in the direction of the industrial estate, a good thirty minute walk from him.

After five minutes he reached the bakery he always bought his breakfast and lunch from, and stepped into the warm shop where the same girl as always was working behind the counter. She looked up when the door opened and a blast of cold air reached her, and smiled broadly when she saw who it was.

"Sasuke! G'mornin'!" Sasuke had to prevent himself from wincing at her ridiculous enthusiasm at such an early hour of the morning.

"Hi Karin. Usual please," he mumbled, pulling his wallet out of his jacket pocket whilst she went about bagging up a croissant and a cream cheese and salmon bagel for him. After a moment's hesitation, he grabbed a multivitamin juice from the fridge and set that on the counter as well.

"How are you enjoyin' the United States then, Sasuke?" Karin asked as she took his money and ran it through the register, whilst Sasuke put the food and drink in his briefcase.

"Fine thank you," he replied politely, although he was keen to get out of the shop as soon as possible. It wasn't that he was going to be late for work. It was no secret that Karin had a huge crush on him, one which was not welcomed.

"Have you made any friends since you came here?" she asked, leaning her forearms on the warm counter. "If you want, we can go for a coffee this weekend. I can show you around the town a bit."

"That's very kind but I... I have plans," he said quickly, hastily saying goodbye and stepping back out into the tundra. As the door shut behind him, leaving a rather baffled Karin behind the counter, Sasuke fished his headphones from his pocket and put them in his ears, putting his playlist on and setting off on the rest of the way to work.

Aside from the weather, he found he quite enjoyed the walk, enough so that he hadn't bothered buying a bike like he had mentally threatened on his first day. The company was situated just over the brow of a hill in the industrial estate, and as he ascended that hill every morning he always got the best view of the sunrise. He also found that whilst he walked he had the time to think, and he spent a lot of time plotting his novel during this commute.

He would never tell his family this, but he didn't really care that much for a profession in translation. What he longed for was to become a published author.

Ten minutes into his walk, he passed the lake which was frozen over and the ice covered in a layer of cake-icing snow. A few ducks sat on the banks, staring dubiously at what had been water a few months before, and as always Sasuke found himself inwardly smiling at their antics. Another thing he would never tell anyone – he found the local ducks positively adorable.

He arrived at work to find it surprisingly quiet. He let himself in with the key fob he now had and was baffled by the absence of people rushing about in every direction. The atrium, which was normally thronging with secretaries and Export personnel, was empty apart from Sakura and Hinata who were both stood at different printers and chatting as they waited for brochures to print out, coffees in hand as they nattered.

Sasuke frowned in confusion but headed into his office, finding Naruto to already be there. Neji's computer was off and his chair was empty, meaning he hadn't arrived yet.

"Hey," Naruto grunted noncommittally, eyes glued to the screen as he played Robot Unicorn Attack with the sound off. Sasuke rolled his eyes and hung his coat up on the back of the door, taking his scarf and gloves off and shoving them in the coat pockets.

"Where is everyone?" he asked, not really wanting to strike up a conversation with Naruto but letting curiosity get the better of him.

"Vacation," Naruto replied, cursing when the unicorn fell into a ravine and his final life ended. "Now that the Korean contract has gone through and the first major shipments and brochures have been sent to their agents, everyone's taken some time off."

"Oh," Sasuke replied dumbly, putting his briefcase on the floor next to his chair. "I never knew... Is Neji on holiday then?"

"Yep. Just me and you for the next week."

Naruto's face reflected the sinking sensation in Sasuke's stomach when he said this. _Great, a whole week with this arsehole. What could be better?_ He thought sarcastically as he slumped down in his computer chair and booted up his computer. His in-tray had a few new documents in it with post-it notes from various people asking him for translations. Most of the documents were just patient forms or a paragraph for a newsletter, so he did those translations quickly whilst he was waiting for the computer to load up.

They worked in silence for the first hour, the eerie quiet of the atrium outside making Sasuke a little uncomfortable. Normally, he chatted with Neji for the first hour whilst they browsed through their emails, but Neji wasn't here today. Naruto was jumping between a powerpoint presentation and Robot Unicorn Attack on his screen, checking the door every now and then to make sure Jiraiya didn't come marching past and see him slacking off. Sasuke knew Jiraiya was at work today, partly because he had seen the man's car and partly because he could _hear_ his laughter from across the atrium every ten minutes or so.

Nine-thirty rolled around, which usually marked breakfast time for their office. It was something that had grown to be a little tradition between the three of them, although Neji often had to coerce Naruto into actually eating because the blond was usually so stressed out about something or other that he forgot to eat.

Today however, Naruto closed all the windows on his PC, reached down and extracted a yoghurt and a banana from his briefcase, looking at Sasuke expectantly. "Breakfast?"

"Uh, sure..." Sasuke mumbled, grabbing his croissant from his bag and ripping open the paper bag it was contained in to use as a makeshift plate on his desk. Naruto got up and closed the office door and then sat down to eat.

Sasuke was confused. Naruto was being _remarkably_ civil today. More civil than he ever was when Neji was around, in fact. And once the door closed, Naruto actually struck up a conversation with him. They had never had a proper conversation in the month they had been working together!

Was Naruto... trying to pretend to everyone else that he didn't like Sasuke? Or was he just less stressed out now and trying to make up for his bitchiness recently? Either way, Sasuke found that when Naruto wasn't being a total dick to him, they actually had a lot in common. The blond was only three years older than him, although Sasuke looked younger than twenty-one so the age gap appeared to be bigger. They liked the same music, they both were avid video gamers, and both of them practised a martial art of some kind (Naruto took karate whilst Sasuke practised tae kwon do).

It was a shock to the system for Sasuke to realise that Naruto was actually quite a nice guy. And whilst some of the blond's personality still got on his nerves (Naruto was a constant ball of energy, something Sasuke could _not_ get used to), he actually thought that Naruto was the type of person he could end up being really good friends with.

Once they finished breakfast, they worked in relative silence for the rest of the morning, although Naruto made the effort to chat to him every now and then. It was unnerving but nice, and far less awkward than chatting to Neji. Sasuke and Neji were both pretty socially awkward, which didn't make for very interesting conversation usually. Now, Naruto did most of the talking, which he seemed happy with, and Sasuke was happy to let him talk.

He wouldn't say it out loud, but Naruto had a nice voice.

When lunchtime rolled around, Sasuke was unsure as to what to do. He usually ate with Neji in the staff kitchen, along with all the women from Export, but he didn't exactly feel ready to face the females alone, nor did he want to pass up the opportunity to talk to Naruto more. If he could build up a good friendship with the blond in this week, perhaps this internship wouldn't be quite so bad for the rest of the year.

Naruto answered his dilemma for him when he got up and put his coat on. "Fancy going to the Italian down the street? My treat."

"Are you sure?"

"Mmm. I don't really like eating with Jiraiya much, he tries to talk business with me when I'm supposed to be on break."

Sasuke shrugged and got up, pulling his own coat on. "Sure, why not?" He didn't want to admit it to himself, but his stomach was fluttering curiously at the thought of eating lunch alone with Naruto. The guy was a looker after all, even with the near permanent frown that he had on his face. His skin was a rich tanned brown, a few freckles dotted across his face to add a slight boyishness to his appearance, and his eyes were such a striking blue that Sasuke had caught himself staring more than once over the past month. Not to mention, Naruto's hair was _ridiculously _bright. He certainly stood out in a crowd.

The restaurant was literally just around the corner from the company building. Sasuke had been there once or twice before with Neji and the women, and liked the food there enough considering he wasn't a huge Italian fan. When they arrived, a waitress took their coats and then led them to a table in the corner, taking their drinks orders before leaving them with the menus.

"I always go for the pizzas here," Naruto said eagerly, turning immediately to that page in the menu and scouring the list for something suiting his tastes. Sasuke snorted.

"That's pretty stereotypical, don't you think?"

Naruto glanced up over the top of the menu, one eyebrow cocked. "What? I'm American and I like pizza?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Yeah. There are a few jokes I could make right now, considering all the times you've taken the piss out of my accent."

"I take the piss out of your accent because it's freaking adorable," Naruto said absently, waving his hand as if brushing the subject off. "You can't make pizza jokes because I'm not fat."

_He's got a point there,_ Sasuke thought, surreptitiously giving Naruto a once over. His black work shirt was fitted enough that Sasuke could tell he worked out frequently, and while his arms weren't ridiculously buff, they were definitely quite toned and muscled.

Sasuke trained his eyes back on his menu before he started entertaining the idea that he had the hots for his colleague. That was a _bad_ idea and he knew it. His eyes stared at the list of dishes unseeingly and he tried not to think about how he was in a restaurant alone with quite possibly the most gorgeous specimen of the male species he had ever encountered, who for once wasn't being a total douche to him.

"What're you gonna have?" Naruto asked after a minute of silence, setting his menu down on the table.

"Um, the tuna I guess," Sasuke mumbled, not meeting Naruto's gaze as he did the same with his menu. Naruto's eyebrow raised again, but he didn't comment on Sasuke's sudden bashfulness.

"Hey, listen," he said once they made their order and received their drinks from the waitress, "Sorry I've been such an ass since you met me. I've been super stressed out and... I guess I assumed the worst of you before I got to know you. I thought you were just a stuck up rich kid until today."

Sasuke snorted and took a drink of his soda, deigning not to tell Naruto that he _was_ a stuck up rich kid. "Well, if it's any consolation, I thought you were a bitchy arse on your man period."

Naruto laughed loudly, throwing his head back in a true laugh that made a woman at the next table jump with its volume. "I guess we're even then. How about we start again?" He held out his hand across the table, a lopsided grin on his face. "Clean slate?"

Returning the grin with a smirk of his own, Sasuke took Naruto's hand and they shook firmly. "I suppose I can put up with your idiocy from now on."

Naruto's hand squeezed his tightly, warm and large compared to Sasuke's smaller, cooler one. "I think we'll get on just fine, Sasuke."

* * *

**TBC**


End file.
